Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Rostosky
3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 04/30/11
Posts: 3339
Loc: Lost in cyberspace.in the UK.

The fascination is to see inside prof quentins house ( thats if the piano is there) to see what items of "other merchandise" also reside there, and therefore to be able to determine if anything at all is worth "having away" so to speak.

I think (sometimes) that there is no point in the ladies going all the way to Ireland to have a go on richards new wood item ( the item formally known as a piano) if (a.) his wife is vicious looking with an angry demeanor or (b.) he lives in a hovel with no carpets or adequately stocked drinks cabinets.

Furthermore in Ireland, if the host does not have ameretto, he will invariably suggest going to the "local" pub.

This could be ( and usually is) 27.5 country miles away.

A point about country miles: In wales where we have country miles as well , when a signpost says Llanfihangel 7 miles that way, what this means is that it takes a healthy athletic type four hours to jog the distance, proving a country mile is an arbitery measurement designed to put folk off going there in the first place by secular locals.

Arriving at the local pub there will be questions for strangers, like really personal ones that are very hard to answer without lying. And to top it all off, folk only drink guiness ,which is just a posh name for horrid stout with an overly frothy head. Most folk who have been sat in the pub will have been born in the pub and stayed put most of their lives, they have all known each other from birth and you will be the odd one out immediately on entering said establishment.

On a scale of one to ten where Ameretto is say an 11, guiness weighs in at .002

There will be a girl called Mary O Brien, but she probably wont put out because she lives in fear of her sisters who are both nuns and their constant tales of the strange "purgatory" place that you have to go to if you get caught having sexyfuntime.

There may be darts, but not usually a pool table or jukebox, unless its a specially converted "furies" jukebox which only plays music by, the furies.

If you dont have any knowledge of things called "jigs" you are publicly declared an imbecile and denounced as unworthy.

The scenary is nice but it has to be, you will see enough of it on the way to the pub and again on the way home, there are no taxis and buses only run on the fourth wednesday after pentecost.

_________________________

Rise like lions after slumber,in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dewwhich in sleep has fallen on you. Ye are many,they are few. Shelley

Ireland does still sound fascinating, I do so wish to visit and meet people with lovely accents and exotic names, even if it means I must walk 27.5 miles and look up the meaning of the word "jig" (which I guess does not refer to a female body part).

Rossy, you could move to the US, where amaretto is not really even considered an alcoholic beverage. AimeeO was correct!It's more of a light "ladies drink"- hey, wait a minute!

How do we know you are really MALE? Hmmmm, Rossy, after all, could be short for ..." Rosalind " !!

Greetings everyone! Seems lots of 'serious' discussions are going on here Anyway, things are not going well for me since last one or two months I'm almost out of my piano practice for more than a month, very disappointed, in serious doubts whether I can really join the Big recital or not ....

The following piece has soothed me a lot recently. I hope it'll be a soothing start to this week's Sunday Classical program

I think (sometimes) that there is no point in the ladies going all the way to Ireland to have a go on richards new wood item

Ladies are always welcome to go all the way when they come to play with my thing.

Originally Posted By: Tossersky

Furthermore in Ireland, if the host does not have ameretto, he will invariably suggest going to the "local" pub.

This could be ( and usually is) 27.5 country miles away.

"The" local pub? The village is just over half a mile away. It consists of a corner shop, two pubs, two churches and, in the centre, a statue of Our Lady. There is one house between me and the village on my side of the road and three on the other side plus a B&B, a playschool, an infants school and a deserted Garda post.

Opposite the house is a sheep field. On the other side, toward the main road there are six neighbouring houses and more fields of sheep, cows and horses. At the junction with the main road is another pub. It's three quarters of a mile away. There's no-one behind us that we can see until lights come on at night in the distance leading up Church Mountain. (see below)

Originally Posted By: Rottersky

Arriving at the local pub there will be questions for strangers, like really personal ones that are very hard to answer without lying. And to top it all off, folk only drink guiness ,which is just a posh name for horrid stout with an overly frothy head. Most folk who have been sat in the pub will have been born in the pub and stayed put most of their lives, they have all known each other from birth and you will be the odd one out immediately on entering said establishment.

If you mean the pub on the main road you'd be bang on. The pubs in the village are something else altogether. The pub nearest the local caravan park has the most 'visitors from afar' and the one nearest the churches has the most music making. It is there that my guitars and I were made to feel most welcome. They were not used to singing Beatles and power ballads and I was not used to singing Irish folk songs, U2 and Thin Lizzy. We all joined in each others offerings.

Originally Posted By: TrottersKey

There will be a girl called Mary O Brien, but she probably wont put out because she lives in fear of her sisters who are both nuns and their constant tales of the strange "purgatory" place that you have to go to if you get caught having sexyfuntime.

Yep! She's still there.

Originally Posted By: RoostyTyke

There may be darts, but not usually a pool table or jukebox, unless its a specially converted "furies" jukebox which only plays music by, the furies.

If you dont have any knowledge of things called "jigs" you are publicly declared an imbecile and denounced as unworthy.

Can it really be so long, Rossy, since you visited the Emerald Isle? There is darts and a juke-box in the pool room at the back that's full of chart material (albeit old charts but more British than Irish).

Anything of the Fureys or Dubliners was sung by the regulars (and visitors) with guitars, banjos, whistles and a squeeze-box.

There were no jigs or reels except when a visiting troupe showed up and joined in with fiddles and flutes. A great time was had by all that night!

Originally Posted By: RootsToBranches

The scenary is nice but it has to be, you will see enough of it on the way to the pub and again on the way home, there are no taxis and buses only run on the fourth wednesday after pentecost.

I can't believe how close you are! But you won't see the scenery on the way back - there's no street lighting - but the stars, if the sky's clear, are awesome. There are no taxis, though I've seen a couple pass the house. There's one bus to Dublin every weekday morning around 7am and it returns in the evening at about 6:30pm. There are no buses to any other destinations except those on the school run. Pitiful!

We're a fifteen minute drive away from Glendalough from where we took the last known photos of my Dad with our two lads. It's a very peaceful setting that really brings you back to nature.

The little picture of Church Mountain in this link was taken a quarter of a mile down the road from my house over Ken's milking barns. Ken runs the local B&B on the other side of the road. Apart from the barns that's pretty much the view we get from our kitchen window.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Mountain

We've had stray sheep, foxes and deer in the garden. We always have rabbits in the summer, front and back. My son made himself a rabbitskin hat and I make the occasional paella with rabbit if our neighbour gets lucky with his gun.

Well, well, well, what a busy week we've had. This is the best it's been since the Satie thing started. It's looking good for 2013!

I vote AimeeO poster of the week for the Kennedy Centre awards coverage (I think the Bonnie Rait alone would have done it for me). Thanks Aimee, great stuff.

And now I see Rupak has returned but with troubling revelations.

Rupak, your studies are most important right now. Ten minutes a day for Mendelssohn is simply too much to ask. Fear not for the Big Recital. I understand Wayne will be free to take up any slack from droppers out. He's waltzing through his piece.

Hummel kicks off continues (Thanks, Rupak) the first Sunday classical posting of the New Year. He was a first rate performer on the piano, a rival to and good friend of Beethoven, who requested he improvise at his memorial service. He was equally gifted as a teacher and taught Thalberg, Czerny, Hiller, von Henselt and Mendelssohn. He was taught by Haydn, Mozart and Clementi. He was a first rate improviser and it's a pity that he wasn't as valued generally as a composer though his music had a strong influence on Chopin. This is his Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano.

Lyadov was respected as a composer by the Big Five Russian composers but like Hummel was to serve better as a teacher. This is his Prelude in B Minor played by the very attractive and talented Nadejda Vlaeva who seems to be using a chair very similar to Gould's but instead of it being too low seems to be set too high.

Those of you who remember my postings at the end of September will recall the Missa Papae Marcelli of Palestrina. This was his most famous mass and the response to criticism by Caccini that the music did not follow the text, in terms of expression, the way it would if spoken. Caccini believed it was the result of the Renaissance style of imitative polyphony. Palestrina rose to the challenge.

His hands were tied somewhat as sacred music had to follow set rules such as:a) opening melodies had to begin on long notes, breves or semibreves. Succeeding themes may use notes as short as minims. b) new syllables must begin on minims or longer notesc) penultimate syllables extended into decorative melismad) syllables must end on values no shorter than minims

The famous Missa we heard back in September was the result of much creativity in response to Caccini and it was no mean feat that he was able to suit the music to the words, maintain clarity of individual lines, and sell the new style to the church! That he succeeded is testament to the quality of his writing.

This piece, Veni Sponsa Christi, while still beautiful music, was written in the earlier sacred style. It is in the Mixolydian mode on G and although there are frequent F naturals and F major chords but there's no change of key, however cadences finishing on G major do use V-I with a sharpened F. The music is not written from the bass upwards as we are accustomed to, the harmony instead results from the changing counterpoint of the several individual melodies sounding together.

As is our custom, we now rush off to Minneapolis for the next instalment but for those patient enough there will be another helping from the Wicklow Hills before the sun sets over it.

I think (sometimes) that there is no point in the ladies going all the way to Ireland to have a go on richards new wood item

Ladies are always welcome to go all the way when they come to play with my thing.

Originally Posted By: Tossersky

Furthermore in Ireland, if the host does not have ameretto, he will invariably suggest going to the "local" pub.

This could be ( and usually is) 27.5 country miles away.

"The" local pub? The village is just over half a mile away. It consists of a corner shop, two pubs, two churches and, in the centre, a statue of Our Lady. There is one house between me and the village on my side of the road and three on the other side plus a B&B, a playschool, an infants school and a deserted Garda post.

Opposite the house is a sheep field. On the other side, toward the main road there are six neighbouring houses and more fields of sheep, cows and horses. At the junction with the main road is another pub. It's three quarters of a mile away. There's no-one behind us that we can see until lights come on at night in the distance leading up Church Mountain. (see below)

Originally Posted By: Rottersky

Arriving at the local pub there will be questions for strangers, like really personal ones that are very hard to answer without lying. And to top it all off, folk only drink guiness ,which is just a posh name for horrid stout with an overly frothy head. Most folk who have been sat in the pub will have been born in the pub and stayed put most of their lives, they have all known each other from birth and you will be the odd one out immediately on entering said establishment.

If you mean the pub on the main road you'd be bang on. The pubs in the village are something else altogether. The pub nearest the local caravan park has the most 'visitors from afar' and the one nearest the churches has the most music making. It is there that my guitars and I were made to feel most welcome. They were not used to singing Beatles and power ballads and I was not used to singing Irish folk songs, U2 and Thin Lizzy. We all joined in each others offerings.

Originally Posted By: TrottersKey

There will be a girl called Mary O Brien, but she probably wont put out because she lives in fear of her sisters who are both nuns and their constant tales of the strange "purgatory" place that you have to go to if you get caught having sexyfuntime.

Yep! She's still there.

Originally Posted By: RoostyTyke

There may be darts, but not usually a pool table or jukebox, unless its a specially converted "furies" jukebox which only plays music by, the furies.

If you dont have any knowledge of things called "jigs" you are publicly declared an imbecile and denounced as unworthy.

Can it really be so long, Rossy, since you visited the Emerald Isle? There is darts and a juke-box in the pool room at the back that's full of chart material (albeit old charts but more British than Irish).

Anything of the Fureys or Dubliners was sung by the regulars (and visitors) with guitars, banjos, whistles and a squeeze-box.

There were no jigs or reels except when a visiting troupe showed up and joined in with fiddles and flutes. A great time was had by all that night!

Originally Posted By: RootsToBranches

The scenary is nice but it has to be, you will see enough of it on the way to the pub and again on the way home, there are no taxis and buses only run on the fourth wednesday after pentecost.

I can't believe how close you are! But you won't see the scenery on the way back - there's no street lighting - but the stars, if the sky's clear, are awesome. There are no taxis, though I've seen a couple pass the house. There's one bus to Dublin every weekday morning around 7am and it returns in the evening at about 6:30pm. There are no buses to any other destinations except those on the school run. Pitiful!

We're a fifteen minute drive away from Glendalough from where we took the last known photos of my Dad with our two lads. It's a very peaceful setting that really brings you back to nature.

The little picture of Church Mountain in this link was taken a quarter of a mile down the road from my house over Ken's milking barns. Ken runs the local B&B on the other side of the road. Apart from the barns that's pretty much the view we get from our kitchen window.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Mountain

We've had stray sheep, foxes and deer in the garden. We always have rabbits in the summer, front and back. My son made himself a rabbitskin hat and I make the occasional paella with rabbit if our neighbour gets lucky with his gun.

Just a quick note to say....the change of posters names in the quotes did not escape my attention. Nice touch.

Greetings everyone! It's a sunny morning here in Minneapolis, and I'm enjoying my last few days of leisure before I return to work from my vacation. Rupak, thanks for getting things started with that lovely selection. Btw, I can relate to your problem with finding practice time lately. I've actually found that when I get back to the keyboard, my sessions actually improve after taking some off. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that when you return to the keyboard you may not have lost much ground with your piano work, and probably may have improved.

Richard, you've also gotten us off to a great start this morning with those wonderful selections. I've decided to look backwards for my Sunday classical offerings today. It was July 2011 when I first started posting classical music each Sunday on our fledgling thread. Today I will share some of those earlier postings.

My first selection today is the "Concerto in B Flat major for 3 Oboes, 3 Violins & Continuo" by Georg Philipp Telemann. This is the first track from Triple Concertos, performed by Collegium Musicum 90 and conducted by Simon Standage, 1995. The oboes are Anthony Robson, Richard Earle, and Chery Forbes. The violins are Simon Standage, Micaela Comberti, and Catherine Weiss.

Wynton Marsalis' performance of "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major was my very first classical posting on RST. It was fun because several of our colleagues were not aware of Wynton Marsalis' accomplishments as a virtuoso classical trumpter. It was a pleasure to introduce them to another side of this gifted artist.

My final post will be The Parker String Quartet. I had the pleasure of listening to this Grammy award winning ensemble in concert here in Minneapolis. Here they perform the third movement of Béla Bartók's "String Quartet No.1 in A minor" live in studio at Minnesota Public Radio.

It's been fun looking back on some of my past postings. I'll occassionally do more of that. Right now I'm in need of some coffee and a bagel!! Don't forget to check in later for Richard's finale!

Rostosky
3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 04/30/11
Posts: 3339
Loc: Lost in cyberspace.in the UK.

JOY OF JOYS, what a wonderous day,

TJ has just "come out" ( see youtube video share thread) as a confirmed foot fetishist by his very own admission.

This was a very very brave thing to do, I hope both myself, wayne, aimeeo, beccaBb, pianojoy, starrkeys, griffin and prof quentin and everyone else concerned will be as tolerant and understanding as humour permits.

A big hand ( or preferably foot) for TJ.

_________________________

Rise like lions after slumber,in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dewwhich in sleep has fallen on you. Ye are many,they are few. Shelley

Rostosky
3000 Post Club Member
Registered: 04/30/11
Posts: 3339
Loc: Lost in cyberspace.in the UK.

JOY OF JOYS, what a wonderous day,

TJ has just "come out" ( see youtube video share thread) as a confirmed foot fetishist by his very own admission.

This was a very very brave thing to do, I hope both myself, wayne, aimeeo, beccaBb, pianojoy, starrkeys, griffin and prof quentin and everyone else concerned will be as tolerant and understanding as humour permits.

A big hand ( or preferably foot) for TJ.

Edited by Rostosky (01/06/1311:04 AM)Edit Reason: may have allready mentioned all of this before in my excitement

_________________________

Rise like lions after slumber,in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dewwhich in sleep has fallen on you. Ye are many,they are few. Shelley

My feet are safely encased in huge fuzzy blue and green socks and are prepared for swift kicks to the head for anyone daring to come near them! Foot Fetish people beware!!!!!!!!!!!

(P.S. Who the heck is TJ?)

TJ is Trapper John. Trap graces us with his posts quite often. He never gives up on trying to convince me that Alison Kraus should have been on my list of 8 songs I'd take with me if I were trapped (pun intended) on a desert island.

TJ has just "come out" ( see youtube video share thread) as a confirmed foot fetishist by his very own admission.

This was a very very brave thing to do, I hope both myself, wayne, aimeeo, beccaBb, pianojoy, starrkeys, griffin and prof quentin and everyone else concerned will be as tolerant and understanding as humour permits.

Thank you, Griffin, for an apt selection. The Telemann and Bach concertos continue the theme from last week and keep the ears attuned to the more delicate dissonances of the Baroque, making it easier to come to terms with the finale that follows and the smaller forces of the Bartok quartet, with its more modern tonality and rhythms, provides a nice complementary balance to the whole programme and shows just how far we came in 300 years.

Claudio Monteverdi stood at the centre of the transition from Renaissance music to Baroque. The Magnificat is an example of sacred writing, not dissimilar to the Palestrina piece heard earlier, as an example of his ability in that style. He was probably the greatest of the composers who worked in both styles.

He began writing Madrigals, through composed secular songs using unaccompanied polyphony, in the monodic style where the accompaniment was the newly emerging basso continuo providing the harmony below the single melodic line, now able to express emotion in ways that brought out the meaning of the text.

He then combined all the main and emergent styles of composition into one opera using open forms of recitative and closed forms of strophic verse, ABA and ABB composition.

This is the opening of Orfeo. The full opera is two hours and is well worth a listen.

In Possente Spirto, Monteverdi uses strophic verse which suggests that the music cannot fit the text. Indeed, the music doesn't express the text but it is no less beautiful for that because it does convey emotion, and it is Orfeo's ability to move by singing that is demanded by the story (charming Caronte to ferry him across the Styx) so it works on a deeper level. Still Monteverdi has used different instrumentation and different vocal embellishement for each verse.

I know this music won't appeal to all of you, or many of you, because we have grown up with late Baroque and Classical music from Bach and Handel, through Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, right on up to Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Mahler et al. This has conditioned you to certain expectations of Western music and its language, major and minor scales and arpeggios and the chords and harmonic progressions built on them.

The early Baroque is not just a preparation for Bach and Handel. It is the birth and development of several new styles that break away from the Renaissance plan and add interest in a variety of ways. They are happening in different countries. The sonata (which became the symphony), the concerto and opera all grew and flourished in Italy but England, France and Germany were all contributing in their own way to the new language.

It is not until the creative might of Bach that all these styles are pulled together but I hope you might give some of it a listen and let it grow on you over time.

Needed to pop up again, 'cause I've just found out this pianist with superhuman ability , can't help myself sharing it:

BTW, thanks so much Richard, Griffin and Becca for the sympathy and encouraging words. I really needed those, gives me new energy and hope! Thanks indeed

Oh, thanks a lot to Richard and Griffin for the beautiful and refreshing selections of the new year's first Sunday Classical program. I could only listen to the Hummel and Liadov for today, Sunday is almost gone in India right now. So, going to bed for the moment (and another busy week to come ). But I'm hoping to finish all the selections within next couple of days. The Hummel is really magnificent! The notes about him is rather interesting! Thanks Richard for introducing to his wonderful music!

I'm not a huge fan of Elton or Sir Elton or whatever he goes by these days (why oh why can't people leave their names alone!) but I favor the lyrics and simple melody of this song.His voice is deeper in this video than I recall.....

Greetings everyone! Today is my last day of vacation, and I'm getting organized for the week. Before I return to my household chores I want to express my appreciation for all of the wonderful postings.

Richard, all I can say is WOW!! What a treasure trove of information and background in all of your Sunday postings. I am still listening to the last two Monteverdi selections. Most interesting to be able to learn more about the transitioning from the Renaissance to Baroque. The Magnificat was most enjoyable for me to hear first since I have a keen interest in choral music. The Magnificat reminded me of several selections we sang in school. I just got started with listening to the opera. I'll be back to you on that later.

Rupak, that pianist was amazing! Thanks!!

Rossy, I really enjoyed the Dead Can Dance posting. I was only able to listen to the second posting because of my quirky iPad. I'll view the other later on my desktop PC. BTW, have you posted Dead can Dance before? I don't believe I've of heard them before. Thanks for the introduction. That's what I love about this thread!

PJ, I'm having the same problem viewing your posting on my iPad. I'll view it later.

PJ, over here if a festivity falls on Sunday, then the next Monday is holyday. We are so lucky.

Btw, The Three Kings gave me a wonderful tablet (I got quite surprised, as didn’t deserve so much). Well, now I’m looking for a parametric equalizer that works like widget, but I find nothing about this kind of application for Android. Any suggestion would be extremely appreciated.